Portable elevator



April 14, 1925. 1,533,987 H. s. GERMOND, JR.

FOR-TABLE ELEVATOR Filed Jan. 26, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 14, 1925.

H. s. GERMOND, JR

PORTABLE ELEVATOR Filed Jan. 26, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 14,1925.

HENRY snnnnnn anemone, an, or BAYONNE. NEW JERSEY..

. PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

Application filed January 26, 1922. Serial No. 531,966.

To all whom it mayv concern: 1

Be it known that I, HENRY SHELDEN (inn- M'OND, Jr., a Cll'JZQIl. oftlle'UIllt-fid States of America, residing at Bayonne, in the county ofHudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Portable Elevators, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in portable elevators or tieringmachines and particularly to improvements in portable elevators of therevolving-base type described and shown in United States patent grantedThomas J. McCarthy on May '28, 1907, No. 854961. In United States patentgranted George M. French on February 26, 1901, No. 668681, and also inUnited States patent granted William B. Pavey and George M. French onAugust 15, 1916, No. 1,194,780, there is shown and described a portableelevator of the non-revolving-base type having a dumping caster-Wheel;and, in this type of machine, the tongue (or pullhandle) stands upright,when the machine is at rest upon the floor, in position to be loaded orunloaded. Where the machine is of the non-revolving-base type, theupright position of the handle is unobjectionable during loading andunloading, but the same is not true, in the case of the machine providedwith a revolving base; for, in that case, the tongue or pull-handleserves to ob,-

struct loading and unloadingkof the platform from the tongue side, asmay be seen from an inspection of Fig. 2 of the McCarthy patentabove-mentioned. An ob ject of the present invention is to provide, in atiering machine of the revolving-base type, a dumping-caster mechanismor apparatus in which the tongue or pull-handle is detachable to acertain extent (hereinafter described) and therefore capable of beinglaid in a pronepositionupon the floor, during the operations of loadingand unloading,- when the machine is at rest and the caster-wheel israised from the floor, whereby the platform is free to be loaded andunloaded from the tongue-side of the machine. Another object of thisinvention is to provide a tongue or pull handle of the detachable typejust mentioned, in which the pullhandle is two-part and is soconstructed that that part which is manipulated by the workman i. e.,the steering part) is free to be swung aside, when detached, andsusceptible of being pushed aside and effectually put out of the way,thereby ceasing to be an encumbrance and hindrance to the operator ofthe machine, while the pull-handle is detached and lying on the floor.

v In the drawings illustrating the principle of this invention and thebest mode now known to me of applying that principle, Fig. 1 1s a sideelevation of a tiering machine having a revolving base and provided witha dumping-caster mechanism embodying this invention; Fig. 2. is a detailillustrating the dumping-caster mechanism in front elevation, thepull-handle being shown dotted;

Fig. 3 is a detail illustrating the dumpingcaster mechanism with thepull-handle disengaged and lying upon the floor, one of the wheels beingomitted; Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating the dumping-caster mechanismengaged by the pull-handle, one of the wheels being omitted. Fig. 5 is adetail showing, in plan, a two-part pull-handle, the parts thereof beingshown interlocked with each other; Fig. 6 is a detail illustrating, inplan, a two-part pull-handle, the steering part being shown freed fromits normal interlock with the butt-end of the pull-handle; Fig. 7 showsin side elevation the parts illustrated, in plan, in Fig. 5; Fig. 8 is adetail illustrating in side elevation, the steering part of thepull-handle thrown out of locking engagement with the butt end thereof,and Fig. 9 is a detail showing the dogin plan.

The tiering-machine A is shown conventionally and may be brieflydescribed as having a truck a provided with a pair of truckwheels I) atits rear end and with a pair of posts or legs 0 at its front end. Uponthe truck a, there is mounted, free to revolve in a horizontal planethereon, a machine-base d from which rise the machine-standards 6 (onlyone of which is shown), between which travels up and down, theload-receiving carriage or platform f. One end of a hoisting-cable g isfastened to the latter, while its other end is wound around the drum ofa Windlass mechanism h, the cable passing around a pulley 2' that hangsfrom the top crosspiece j which extends between the standards 6 andforms therewith the hoisting-frame of the machine. Thedumping-castermechanism, of which the principle of operation is wellknown to all persons skilled in this art, is attachedto the front partof the truck a and comprises a pair of of the latter lever is pivotallysecured, by means of a pin g, to a hanger or bracket 7' g which isfastened to the truck a.

. wheels is are shown The pull-handle t comprises a pairof bars '6'suitably connected at their outer ends by a cross-piece t" that servesas a handheld. The axle m passes through holes formed in the inner endsof the bars t and the latter are free to swing upon the axle m. Betweenthe bars t and below the middle thereof, there is mounted, free to swingon the pivots u, a dog or catch at that is formed with a recess u in itslower face. This recess u" is shaped (either as shown in Fig. 3 or inFig.7) to receive the upper end of the arm 'n, which is formed with arecess 92, in its top adapted to receive the dog a (Figs. 2 and 3). Thedog a is provided, at its front end, with a cross-piece u"; bypressingwith his foot upon the latter, the. operator may throw the recessed endof the dog it upwardly and out of engagement with the top of the arm nand may then swing the pullhandle t downwardly and towards the front andlay the same upon the floor s, as illustrated in Fig. 3. In Fig. 1, thetiering machine is shown resting upon its truck-wheels b and its legs orposts 0, so that the platform or carriagef may be loaded; The caster-(Fig. 1) resting upon the floor s and the pull-handle t is held inupright position by the engagement of the dog a with the top ofthe arm"n. lVere it desired to load the carriage 7 from the front or handleside, it would be necessary 'to revolve the base d through an arc of onehundred and eighty degrees (180); but, in its position illustrated inFig. 1, the upright pull-handle t constitutes an obstruction to the freeloading of the carriage '7 from the handle-side of the machine. It is,however, in order to remove this obstruction, necessary only todisengage the dog ufrom the top of the arm n and to lower thepull-handle t to the floor, as has hereinbe fore been described and asis illustratedin Fig. 3. The loading of the carriage f having beencompleted, the pull-handle t is.

raised by the operator and swung to the rear, untilthe dog it becomesengaged with the upper end of the arm n, whereupon the operator drawsthe pull-handle t to the front and, the dog u and the lever 51, 0, beingnow interlocked (Fig. i), the caster wheels is are forced intocontactwith the floor s and the cam-faced end p of the leverarm 0 is brought'to bear against the hanger r, with the result that the front end ,ofthe truck a is raised and the legs or posts 0 leave the floor 8. Themachine now rests upon the truck-wheels b and the casterwheels is andmay be drawn or rolled along steering part '0 of the pull-handle whichis opposed to the butt-part 20 thereof, there is fastened a pair ofplates 4;, 11, respectively above and below the steering part c andextending towards the front end w of the butt-part w and embracing theend an. r. These plates v, o, are slotted (see Figs. 5

and 6) and through the slots 1) passes the pivot-bolt w. These slots 12*permit the plates '21, Q), movement-relatively to the pivot-bolt w, aswill be readily understood. Through the front end w" of the butt-part wof the pull-handle, there passes a lockingpin a2; and the rear end ofeach of the plates 4:, o, is formed with an open-ended slot, notch orrecess '0 the pull-handle v, to, being in line with the butt-part wthereof, the wall of the recess 'v may be engaged with the locking-pina, by thrusting the steering part -v towards the butt-part 20, when theparts 1;, w, of the pullhandle will assume the relative positionsillustrated in Figs. 5 and 7, wherein these parts 1), w, are showninterlocked with each other so that the steering part c cannotbo swungaside i. e., laterallywith respect to the butt-part w of the pull-handleand to the base or bed a of the machine). lVith its parts v, w, thusinterlocked, the pull-handle may be manipulated as'an entirety and theupper notched end of the arm n of the twoarmed lever 12,, 0, maybeengaged in the notch or recess it" formed in the dog a, ashereinbefore described and shown (see Figs. 1 and 4). \Vhen the dog orcatch a is disengaged from the arm n and the pull-handle is lying flatonthe fioorfthe workman may release the steering part 2; from itsinterlock with the butt-part w by pulling the steering part 0 towardshimself and thereby throwing the walls of the notches o out ofengagement with the projecting ends of the locking-pin m, the slots '0permitting the plates '0, 'v,-to slide relatively to the pivot-bolt w(Fig. 8). Thus freed from its engagement with the locking-pin m, thesteering part '0 may now be swung laterally and so gotten out of the wayof the workmen who are operating, loading and unloading the machine(Fig. 6).

The caster-wheel is normally rests upon the floor, even when the posts 0are raised therefrom; but it will be understood that the caster-wheelmay be raised from the floor, if the operator so desires, by hisdeliberately pushing the handle t towards the machine.

The steering part c of a.

lUl

In accordance with the patent statutes, 1 have shown and described thepreferred form of this invention. 1 desire it to be distinctlyunderstood that l rfully realize that changes may be made in thestructure herein disclosed and that I intend to include within the scopeof the claims that follow hereinafter all modifications of the preferredform of this invention that do not depart substantially from the spiritthereof. For example,'the dog a may be spring-controlled, instead ofgravity-controlled, as shown. Again, instead of a pair of caster-wheels70., 7a, a single caster-wheel may be substituted.

This application is filed as a continuation in part of the applicationfiled by me on the thirtieth day of April, 1921, Serial No. 465,768, andallowed on the seventh day of December, 1921.

I claim:

1. An apparatus of the character described, including a truck-supporttherefor,

i re

and mechanism for alternately changing the latter from a readily-movabletruclesupport to a fixed, stationary truck-support; said mechanismincluding an operating pull-handle for drawing the apparatus from pointto point along the floor, the pull-handle being mounted free to be movedout of loadingobstructing position; and means carried by the pull-handlefor interlocking the pullhandle at will with other parts of saidmechanism for the actuation of the same by the pull-handle to effectboth the changes' 2. An apparatus of the character described, includinga truck-support therefor;

a base mounted free to revolve on the trucksupport; and mechanism foralternately changing the latter from a readily-movable truck-support toa fixed, stationary trucksupport; said mechanism including an op-.erating'pull-handle for drawing the apparatus from point to point alongthe floor, the pull-handle being mounted free to be moved out ofloading-obstructing position; and means carried by the pull-handle forinterlocking the pull-handle at will with.

other parts of said mechanism for the actuaboth the changes.

3. An apparatus of the character described, including a truck-supporttherefor; and mechanism for alternately changing the latter from areadily-movable truck-support to a fixed, stationary truck-support; saidmechanism including a two-partpull-handle by which the apparatus may bedrawn from point to point along the floor, and'which is arranged tointerlock detachably with other parts of the mechanism for actuation ofthe same the parts of the pull-handle being constructed to interlockvdetachably with each other and one of the parts of the pull-hanle beingmounted free to swing from side to side on its other part when freedfrom its interlock therewith and to be thrown out of loading-obstructingposition when the pullhandle is disengaged from other parts of saidmechanism. I

4. An apparatus of the character described, including a truck-supporttherefor; and mechanism for alternately changing the latter from areadily-movable truck-support to a fixed, stationary truck-support; saidmechanism including a two-part pull-handle for drawing the apparatusfrom' point to point along the floor, the parts of the pullhandle beingconstructed to interlock detachably with each other and one of the partsof the pull-handle being mounted free to swing from side to side on itsother part when freed from its interlock therewith;

the pull-handle being mounted free to be v -mo-ved out ofloading-obstm1cting position;

and means for interlocking the pull-handle detachably and at will withother parts of said mechanism for the actuation of the same by thepull-handle.

Signed at the city of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State ofNew Jersey, this eighteenth day of January, 1922, in the presence of thetwo undersigned witnesses.

HENRY SHELDEN GERMOND, JR.

Witnesses:

AGNES D. GnRMoND, WARREN M. LYMAN.

